Emergency Response Massage International

The Annual APCO/NENA Joint State Conference will be held September 12-15 at the Seatrails Conference Center in Sunset Beach, NC. Any NC or SC members interested in working need to contact Abbie Yandle info@ermassage.org or 704-763-6099. As we have more information on vendor hours we will be updating the website. This is a great and fun way to meet your 4 hour obligation and have some play time at the coast!

James Charlesworth, considered to be the creator of Emergency Response Massage, died on June 1st, after a long battle with cancer.  All Emergency Response Massage teams were born out of his first efforts in 1989. He explained his first experience.

"A couple of days after the Loma Prieta earthquake shook us in the San Francisco Bay Area; I was sitting at my desk feeling detached and confused. I had noticed that students, staff and the general public were experiencing a lot of numbness and an inability to concentrate. At the same time, I wanted to do something that would help to alleviate these feelings and be more proactive. Doing massage therapy was the logical way for me, as a therapist, to contribute and help me cope with the effects of the earthquake. I called my American Red Cross Chapter, and spoke with Nancy Blackman, R.N. She was coordinating the Disaster Health Services, whose staff had already been working 72 hours, nonstop. Ms. Blackman was reticent about having massage therapists come to her chapter, since she did not remember massage volunteers coming to assist before.

That night, I went over to the Oakland Chapter, thinking I would spend an hour discussing the possibilities and giving some demonstrations. Five hours later, I left, having massaged many of the most crucial staff, who lavished their praise about the regenerating powers of massage therapy. The vision for massage at disasters grew from this initial experience. In the following days, by coordinating a full-scale massage emergency response for the National Holistic Institute, we gave over 8,000 massages to rescue workers and victims, in five locations. The nourishing effect on the spirit of the recipients and massage therapists, alike, was fantastic."

He will be deeply missed by all who have given their time to help others after a disaster/critical event.  Rest in peace dear friend.

American Massage Therapy Association, South Carolina Chapter named ERMI it's 2011 charity, at their February 20th AMTA-SC board meeting.  The year starts in March 2011, with their Mini-Convention, where a raffle will be held and ERMI will receive all the proceeds.  Throughout the year the chapter will have a donation button on their website, and a link to the  ERMI website.  They will be sponsoring a training in the summer of 2011 with a special rate for their members.  ERMI's Treasurer, Ronda S. Villa, is the 1st VP and Education Chair of the chapter and was very instrumental in getting this significant offer for us.  We hope to have a long term relationship with AMTA-SC and wish to thank them for their contribution.

ERMI-MA team spent three weeks working with Partners In Health (PIH), Boston, MA.  The team, working with eight members and four members in training, provided massage Monday, Wednesday and Friday's starting Monday the 25th of January and finishing up on Friday the 12th of February.  They provided massage for the entire staff of PIH, who had been working continuously since Haiti was devastated.

PIH was founded in 1987, two years after the Clinique Bon Sauveur was set up in Cange, Haiti, to deliver health care to the residents of the mountainous Central Plateau. PIH co-founders had been working in the area for years. The Clinic was just the first of an arc of successful projects designed to address the health care needs of the residents of the poorest area in Haiti. In the 20 years since then, PIH has expanded its operations to eight other sites in Haiti and nine additional countries and has launched a number of other initiatives.

The response to ERMI-MA's works is reflected in this letter received from PIH
"We can't thank you enough for the generous donation of massages for our office staff.  It's amazing what relaxing massages will do to boost office morale and keep us going through these round-the-clock hours.  We couldn't do it without your support and we truly appreciate your generosity.  Thank you for thinking of us.  Partners in Health team"

ERMI has signed an Affiliate Organization Understanding agreement with Green Cross. The Green Cross Academy of Traumatology was initially organized to serve a need in Oklahoma City following the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.  In 2004, Green Cross Project merged with Green Cross Foundation and emerged as the Green Cross Academy of Traumatology.

Green Cross is an international, humanitarian assistance organization, non-profit corporation comprised of trained traumatologists and compassion fatigue service providers.  Most are licensed mental health professionals; all are oriented to helping people in crisis following traumatic events.  Green Cross is actively deployed in response to the Haiti earthquake.

ERMI welcomes this opportunity to work with Green Cross in upcoming deployments in the United States and possibly in Haiti.

ERMI State teams have been contacted by local response organizations to work with their responders, who are either deploying for or returning from Haiti.  These will be ongoing events throughout the Haiti response.  Please check out our EVENTS page for dates and hours of these upcoming opportunities to fulfill your ERMI membership requirements.

ERMI is an international organization of volunteer professional massage therapist specifically trained to respond in the event of an emergency or disaster. We are not first responders, and do not deploy until we are called in by relevant government agencies. We have not yet been officially contacted and need to prepare for that possibility.

If you are interested in becoming a member and possibly responding to the disaster in Haiti there are a few things you can do to prepare:

Required:

• 1. Make copies of your current License and Professional Liability Insurance. Send one set of copies to ERMI at 227 S. Peak St., Columbus, NC 28722. Place a set in a file with copies of your drivers license, health insurance, and emergency contact information.

Recommended:

• 2. Follow the steps below to take the independant study course for FEMA Certification. Include a copy of your certificate in your file and send the link to your certificate to info@ermassage.org

• • Go to http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/IS700a/SM%20files/IS700A_StudentManual.pdf to download the student manual for NIMS 700a. Save or print the file.
  • Go to http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/is700a.asp and click on Take IS-700.a Final Exam. This will take you to a notice that the exam must be an individual effort. Check the box and click Continue. Each page has a box at the bottom to print the page. Print out each page of the exam.
  • This is an open book exam, so refer to the student manual to fill in your printed exam. Once you have completed the printed exam go back to the http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/is700a.asp link and take the exam online.
  • You will receive an email shortly with a link to your FEMA certificate. DO NOT DELETE THIS EMAIL. You may print your certificate from the link provided in this email. You may also send the link to ERMI so we can print a copy for your file.

We currently have trainings scheduled in Rochester, MN, for Sunday, March 14, 2010 and in W. St. Paul, MN on Sunday, March 21, 2010. We will be scheduling more classes very soon, and will be conducting training on site in the event of a deployment.